Clear, concise, comprehensive horseracing analysis and insight from Paul Jones, former author of the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide, concentrating on jump racing in addition to the best of the Flat and leading Sports events.

From Soba To Moldova

26/11/17

The jumps season is now fully into top gear since my blog a fortnight ago and I thought it was interesting how many winners at the Cheltenham November Meeting ran at their two-day meeting the previous month, which I have banked into my memory for next season.

As many as seven winners at Cheltenham last weekend ran at the October Meeting and, just for the record, the same number ran at the Festival the previous season. Whether that is because the November Meeting is not as strong a fixture as before (the big two races of the BetVictor Gold Cup and Greatwood Hurdle were well below par in my view) or whether the October Meeting is getting better, I’m not sure.

The novice races in particular proved to be lucrative contests for punters following October Meeting form with North Hill Harvey, Black Corton and Slate House following up their successes from around three weeks earlier and Thomas Campbell also won at both meetings in handicaps. As for Perfect Candidate and Doitforthevillage, looking back at their runs in October, they very much ran like horses being put right for the following month’s meeting. I say that I have banked those results in my memory but what I mean by that is that I have made a written reference in a book which I keep specifically for this reason to remind me of things to look out for a year on, like in golf tournaments etc. so that I don’t forget as I get older!

Actually, one of the sub-sections of a chapter in the punting guidelines/theories book that I am currently writing is on note keeping in general. I think I’m going to call the book ‘From Soba To Moldova’ as Soba was the horse that first attracted me to racing and Moldova would represent my varied interest in many areas to bet on, in this case my fixation with the Eurovision Song Contest!

I’m finally pleased to say that I have now finished the first chapter!!! Fear not those members expecting to read it soon however, as that doesn’t mean I am miles away from going to print as I am over three-quarters of the way through all of the other 20+ chapters so I am still hanging my hat onto it being on members’ doormats sometime in January. The full list of alphabetical chapters, though they will appear in a different order when published, is as follows at present (liable to change):

1. A New Dawn (basically about how I started the website and my thoughts so far and going forward on how it has gone)

2. Action Bets

3. Adapt or Die

4. Angles

5. Ante-Post Betting

6. Be a Good Judge of Judges

7. Concentrate on Festivals and Weekends

8. Dealing with Losing Runs and Fine Margins

9. Getting the Life Balance Right

10. Internet Research Tools

11. Keep Your Eyes Open and Ears Shut

12. Make Eyes and Gut Instincts the Overriding Factor over Everything Else

13. Make Time to Read More Betting Literature

14. Placepot

15. Punter Prejudices and Myth Debunking

16. Ratings Schmatings

17. Staking and Value

18. The Most Successful Gamblers are not Favourite Backers

19. The Value of Being There

20. Treat Betting Like Running A Business

21. Use Trends in the Right Way

Onto the action and Week 2 of the Cheltenham Festival Ante-Post Service will be uploaded on Monday at 7.00 p.m. Unusually for me I put up two bets in Week 1 but, just to let you know here and now in case anyone is dashing to read the copy on the 7.00 p.m. dot, there will be no ante-post recommendations going up tomorrow.

Lil Rockerfeller was a winner in Ante-Post Focus last week (the less said about the others) and I’ll be focussing on the Newbury Meeting in this Wednesday’s lunchtime copy. Last season we had Native River at 16/1 ante-post from six weeks earlier and Carole’s Destrier (2nd at 33/1) each-way on the day, so we are not going to beat that. That said, my 20/1 recommendation from a few weeks back is now half that price so I remain hopeful that we can go back to back.

Then I’ll cover Friday’s card including Thistlecrack vs Unowhatimeanharry on Thursday in Race Previews before looking at the weekend action on Friday in one of my favourite meetings of the year.

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Jumps Season Service

A 6 months' service running between November 15th 2018 (start of The November Meeting at Cheltenham) until the end of the Punchestown Festival 2019 focussing on weekend previews and Cheltenham Festival Ante-Post updates. Membership: £350.

From Soba to Moldova

Paul's new book, 'From Soba To Moldova' focusses on his betting angles, methodology and philosophies broken down into 20 chapters at a cost of £20 (Direct Online Banking) or £22 (PayPal) which was published on February 26th 2018.